


we won't work (we can't work)

by amarelavita



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Co-workers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Hate to Love, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Office crush, Slow Burn, Will tag as I go along, coworkers!au, office!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-13 19:54:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14119608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amarelavita/pseuds/amarelavita
Summary: “Well, it’s a good job he won’t be finding out then, because I’m sure you don’t want your little secret blown to the whole office, do you?”And with that, Robert’s face droppedor,an office/coworkers!au





	we won't work (we can't work)

Paperwork, he decided, was possibly one of the worst things to exist. The four-person cluster desk, - which was currently occupied by one - he was sat at had turned lonely, and the want to go home and just relax was almost unbearable. Some late-night rubbish telly, a takeaway, and some lagers were calling his name, but here he was, stuck at work.

The office itself was large, the floor space primarily occupied by seven, spacious, four-person desks, one wall being covered in floor-to-ceiling windows, with the parallel wall presenting five large glass managerial offices. Aaron wasn’t much a fan of the interior, he’d always been told he had very little taste anyway, but it always felt like he was on show, if not to the outside world then to any of the five managers looming in their prestige offices. If anything, the roomy stationery cupboard was the only attempt at privacy in the whole bloody room. Aaron liked his space, and to keep himself to himself.

For being one of the youngest in the office, Aaron’s desk was abnormally tidy, he wasn’t one for exposing his private life and having photos littered across it, nor excessive girly stationery, and luckily he didn’t have to contend with mountains of folders either. Leyla’s putrid combination of hot pink sparkly stationery and a cream fluffy throw draped over her swivel chair made him grimace and then chuckle, the whole set-up was an accurate representation of her overly compassionate and feminine personality.

In an attempt to crack down on some last minute accounts, Aaron had decided to do some overtime in the office - the empty, now dingy, office in which he'd been working in for the past three years. A career change from a brief, but well loved, stint as a mechanic to working in a finance department for an agricultural company hadn't been anticipated, nor ideal, but he had needed to save up some cash for a deposit for a flat in Leeds, and this had been his last option. A promise of 'on the job training', and marginally higher than minimum wage pay had just about convinced him into such a drab environment, alongside a few other benefits. One of them primarily being the others he worked amongst, most specifically, Adam.

The greatest part about his new venture into the world of all things finance had been finding a best mate in Adam Barton. An unlikely lad to be working in an office, much like Aaron himself, almost too friendly to be working in such a stereotypically dreary setting. They’d quickly found that they had the same sense of humour, with Adam catching Aaron trying not to laugh at one of his awful jokes whilst at the kitchenette, the blossoming of a friendship not far behind. A few drinks out and a couple of takeaways at each other’s’ flats and the pair were solid, an almost brother-like bond forming between them. After becoming mates, sitting at opposite ends of the office had proven to be an annoyance, the pair constantly wanting to chat about nothing in particular and have banter with one another, using the prospect of making cups of tea as excuses to talk every half hour. Adam, the poor sod, was lucky enough to share a desk with the ever-moody Robert Sugden, the prodigy of the company, a constant smug expression slapped onto his face.

The arrogant wannabe-posh boy, with newly quiffed-up hair and a talent for sucking up to the boss like no one else. He was due to inherit the business after proposing to the boss’ daughter, Aaron didn’t much like her either if he was being honest, always swanning about the place with a designer handbag and an even smaller designer dog to match. He was a simple bloke really, and didn’t see the attraction in pretence, especially when it was all about money. Chrissie had been the one to supposedly ‘tame’ Robert, although most people knew different, realising keeping peace with the prodigy was far better than potentially ruining an engagement – and besides, everyone wanted a look in at the wedding anyway. Robert had slept with most of the girls in the office, whether due to how quickly he could turn on the charm, or in an attempt get ahead in the workplace, the majority of them had seemingly fallen for him at one stage or another, although now the novelty had worn off for most. Aaron suspected that that had been one factor that played a part in constructing that smug smile of his, the other was probably knowing that the boss, and his soon to be father-in-law, fancied him and all.

Lawrence White, the man they all had to obey at one stage or another, although Robert loved to do it enough for the whole office. It had worked though. He was on his way to being a director of the company, much to everyone else’s dismay. Aaron didn’t care much for status, all he needed was family, friends and a good laugh; he didn’t see why people like Robert could become so obsessed with hierarchy, so what if he had a different job title to the rest of them? At least Aaron was happy – and not entering into a marriage that was about to fail before it had even begun.

Even Robert’s sister wasn’t impressed by his arse-licking, Victoria was more like Aaron and Adam than her overtly arrogant older brother. She worked for the company too, albeit in a different department to them, thanks to Robert’s ability to schmooze she’d been picked for the job over the other candidates – or at least, that’s what the man himself had claimed. Aaron knew that Victoria was intelligent enough to do way better than her brother, and didn’t need his help in the slightest.

It was a loud metallic crash that made Aaron jump and drop his pen, the harsh sound reverberating from down the hallway. Grabbing his door card and stuffing his phone in his jeans pocket, Aaron moved towards the office door.

“After everything we’ve been through! Why do you have to do this to me? Make me a laughing stock to the whole company!”

Aaron recognised the voice. Chrissie. He wasn’t one for gossip but blimey, Aaron was excited to tell Adam as soon as he knew what was going on and could manage to fish his phone out and open WhatsApp. No other voice had challenged what she’d been going off on one about, Aaron guessed she must’ve been on the phone that was until he heard Robert seemingly try to defend himself.

“I’ve done _nothing_ wrong! I don’t get why you have to blow _everything_ out of proportion! You’re just like the rest of your lot.”

This was going to be good, a proper bust-up.

“My lot? _My_ lot? If that’s how you talk about your soon-to-be family then I don’t want this marriage anymore, you can keep your poxy ring!”

“Chrissie, _Chrissie_ please, you know I don’t mean it.”

Everyone knew they had some sort of trouble not squabbling every two minutes, but actually hearing them have a full-blown argument was next level satisfying. It sounds cruel, but after all Robert’s intimidation tactics and manipulation, Aaron was almost happy to hear him get some sort of comeuppance.

A slam of a few doors leading out of the spare office Aaron had presumed they were in and a few angry stomps down the stairs, silence resumed. Aaron thought he’d been alone, hadn’t a clue they were still here, not that it was surprising, they always needed some sort of venue to stage their arguments. Audience, no audience; they still went for it.

He hadn’t really spoken to Robert much, they weren’t on friendly terms though, more like scowls in passing or snide comments passed off as banter in conversation; Adam very much being one to encourage playground insults, commenting on every time his best mate got a good last word in. Aaron wasn’t interested in many of his co-workers if he was honest, he’d stuck to a tight group of friends and been reasonably pleasant to everyone else if they caught him on a good day that was.

He held his door card up to the reader as it beeped him through, he stepped down the stairs until he was met with an opposing set that lead to the higher offices and the spare one he presumed the slanging match had just taken place in. His suspicions were confirmed when an agitated Robert came striding out, barely locking the door behind him.

“And what have you been up to this time then, mate?” Aaron taunted, knowing full well he was about to wind Robert up, his ever-turbulent relationship with Chrissie being a delicate subject.  
“Shit! What are you still doing here? Never mind that, what the hell are you playing at, listening in?” Robert’s demeanour changing from shocked to accusatory in a matter of seconds. Aaron always had been fascinated by how he could quickly cover his tracks, put on a front. When you’d experienced that yourself, it was easy to spot a broken man a mile off, Aaron had always sensed something off about Robert, everyone else falling for his façade instead.

“Well, it’s been a bit hard not to hear about your little secrets, the way she was banging on.” Having only caught the end of the argument, Aaron didn’t _actually_ know what their feisty bust-up had been about, but he wasn’t going to let Robert know that.

Robert walked down the staircase to get closer to Aaron, his height being the only remotely intimidating thing about him, the preened look wasn’t exactly the sort of ‘bad boy’ image Aaron had had dalliances with in the past. “I swear to God, if you tell anybody about this-“

“Mate, its common knowledge you and the missus like an argument, I’m sure she’ll fill us all in soon enough,” Aaron smirked back. Chrissie was only popular in the office because she was the source of gossip, the women all flocking to her like she was the newest issue of Cosmopolitan.

“Well, at least Chrissie’s still alive _to_ complain about me, something your beloved couldn’t even be bothered to do.”

Aaron didn’t even know where Robert had learnt about Jackson, and in this very moment he didn’t care. He roughly shoved Robert against the cupboard door in between the bottom of the two staircases, the door handle most likely jabbing against his back. Their faces were almost touching, ragged breaths being the only sense of separation. A teasing look was plastered over Robert’s face, as he knew he’d clearly touched a nerve, getting the exact reaction from Aaron he had wanted.

“You better watch out mate, or I’ll be doing her a favour by the sounds of things. By getting rid.”

“You do know I can get you done for this, don’t you? What with you being a Dingle as well, you’d be going straight down. Assault, another crime to add to the list, things aren’t looking good, are they? Murderer, assailant-“ Robert was cut off by Aaron shoving him against the wall with force again, a wince attempting to be covered by a smirk by the older man.

“I don’t know who’s been feeding you all this shit, but so help me God if you don’t shut up.”

A stare between the two and no response from Robert coupled with a smug expression was all it took for Aaron to punch him in the stomach, Robert instantly doubling over in pain, and most likely, shock too. Admittedly, the whole situation had escalated rather quickly, a bit of teasing banter had turned into the beginnings of a punch-up, all because Robert happened to be slightly touchy about his marital problems and Aaron would do anything to defend his family’s honour. Ironically that was a link between the two of them, fighting each other over the premise of their pride being threatened. But insult Aaron’s family and that was it, no one had a clue about his background and he wasn’t about to let anybody shit all over him just because of a bloody surname - one that he was proud to have.

“You do know Lawrence won’t take this lightly - you punching me?” Robert tried to counter back, his voice faltering, the pain clearly affecting him more than it should have.

“Well, it’s a good job he won’t be finding out then, because I’m sure you don’t want your little secret blown to the whole office, do you?”

And with that, Robert’s face dropped, Aaron felt satisfied to say the least, considering he hadn’t got the faintest idea of what Robert’s secret even was. But judging by the look on his face, it was something big.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I've been wanting to write for months and after starting this a while ago on a whim, I decided to actually follow through and post it too. They'll be more to follow - hopefully! Let me know what you think in the comments!


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